One voice that speaks and sings to all my relations, one small part of one. The trails
are many but the path always shines bright & clear, even though outside chaos may try to cover it with deception.
A test of trust, A test of faith, The will to go forward through tears of joy & sorrow Blessed Be
the lessons, the toil and the strength & patience to endure, Oh the comfort of never being alone, even when
others have turned their backs, or traveled many miles away. Beautiful endless time and life given to all my relations.
Oh please Grandfather, help us, have pity on us, Dry our tears, Open our hearts, Let us know and feel
good thoughts and not get lost in opinions, Help us to see one another with the love and beauty You saw in each
of us at the moment of our creation by You. Please help us to feel the heartbeat of Mother Earth as she
struggles and labors to nurture us, Lead us to the awareness that each of us is capable of giving comfort, strength,
love & renewal. Thank You for my life Grandfather, Please help me to do only your work, To go where You send
me. All My Relations kabubu b. music

Hold on to what is good even if it is a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe even if it is a tree which stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do even if
it is a long way from here.

Hold on to life even when it is easier letting go.

Hold on to my hand even
when I have gone away from you."

When you live in constant communication with Creator,
you cannot be lonely.

As seekers of the spiritual aspects of life, it is only natural that one
would turn to books and people for spiritual guidance. This is fine. However... beware. Spirituality cannot
be bought. Those who have it, do not sell it. Those who do not have it, sell as much as the market will bear. Coyote
is always around to remind us of that fact.

"All of this Creation is Sacred...And so do not forget. Every
Dawn as it comes is a holy event and every day is holy, for the light comes from Wakan-Tanka...you must remember
that the Two-leggeds and All other peoples who stand upon this Earth are Sacred and should be treated as such..."
(White Buffalo Woman)

"When the Earth is sick, the animals will begin
to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come to save them."......Chief Seattle

"...What a man knows is what has been done. What the Spirits know is what has been done and what will
be done in the future. The Spirits can tell what is to be in the future. They can tell this to anyone..."

We
once knew the spirit of the plants. We knew every tree and rock. We had time.

"You must
speak straight so that your words may go as sunlight into our hearts. Speak Americans... I will not lie to you...
do not lie to me." (Hardwood)

It is not blood that makes an Native American... It is the
soul.... Too many... with fire of Native blood... walk ignored. Do not say I am Apache or Kickapoo.. Do not
say I am Sioux or Cherokee. Say.... I am of the Mother Tribe... This is the pain of our children... To return
from the stars without a home or community... A tribe lost returns... scattered in the wind. Those who hear must
unite and reap the seed of this return. ONE tribe...ONE Earth...ONE Heart...ONE People. Those with ears must build
a fire and give thanks this night. Be united with ONE soul. Oh, my Children come home... Teachers step forward
without fear... You are real. (Author Unknown)

"[The Circle] will not be mended as long as the People
war among themselves. It will not be mended as long as we try to mend the Sacred Circle with broken Circles. We
all need to pray on this..." (Gary Armstrong)

When humans participate in ceremony, they enter a sacred
space. Everything outside of that space shrivels in importance. Time takes on a different dimension. Emotions
flow more freely. The bodies of participants become filled with the energy of life, and this energy reaches out
and blesses the creation around them. All is made new; everything becomes sacred." (Sun Bear)

THERE IS NO GLIMPSE OF THE LIGHT without walking the path. You can't get it from anyone else, nor can you give it
to anyone. Just take whatever steps seem easiest for you, and as you take a few steps it will be easier for you
to take a few more." --PEACE--

Natural Freedom

WHO you are is a Warrior of the Light, a co-creator
whose wisdom and power is one with the Creator. This is your natural state of being, your heritage. What you are is a human
being that has forgotten WHO you are and is searching for your true identity. Your beliefs ask you to do this or do that.
Your focal point is your doing. You accumulate deeds, accomplishments, property, control over others, more and more "what"
that cloaks "WHO" under a mountain of doing and belief. To find your natural freedom you will have to let go of
constant doing and your belief in doing. WHO you are does not depend upon what you have and what you do. You can find the
natural beauty of WHO You Are and you will be able to say of yourSelf--I AM Ogichidaag.

Twin Flame

A melody in the voice, a vibration of love that you recognize, a
glowing signature in the aura remembered, a knowing that you have danced with that one on a distant shore, memories beyond
time and space that sing of your great beginning in the Heart of Creator. Twin Flames of Original Love burst forth to journey
their lone and separate ways, to learn of knowing and to know, to become and learn to Be. Only when you are whole are you
ready for the Twin Flame. You can learn from many other relationships, some satisfying, some painful, and you know that each
is a step, a sacred step, that prepares you for the ultimate relationship with the one who completes you--your Twin Flame.
Finally to meet again, your dimmed memories resisting the Truth of Oneness, it is a gift of Mother Earth and Father Sky,
a chalice of Light and Love.

Aspiration

Throughout
your lifetime you are often told that you are not good enough, that somehow you have fallen short of the mark. You are often
encouraged to want to be more than you seem to be. Perhaps you have agonized over your inability to reach beyond your grasp.
You aspire to divinity, but you are frustrated that you are "only human." This separation into categories is the
illusion of the mind. Behind the illusions of ego, at the base of your True Nature, you are connected to All That Is. You
are One with all things. The face, the breath, the song of Great Spirit is in all things and you Are that to which you aspire.
Your face is the face of Great Spirit. Look around you at the many other faces of Great Spirit. Your Breath is a celebration
of Creation.... and You are the Song.

To imagine is to dream while you are awake. No longer limited to dreaming while you sleep
you dream consciously and constantly. Each moment of your life, sissagwaad, the soft wind of spirit, can teach you and guide
your footsteps. Open your eyes as you open your heart and you will walk in your dreams, day or night. No need to seek, it
is the essence of your being. You alone are all that will be found. No need to ask, it was always yours. You alone hold
the answers. No need to knock, the door was never closed. Come, soar with the White Eagle, and accept your natural heritageyou
are a being of the stars.

Self is WHO. Expression is what. Self is the Creator of Reality. Expression
is the creation of Self. Nothing is Self-originated. Everything is originated, sustained, completed and
disappeared in WHO.

"When
the Earth is sick, the animals will begin to disappear, when that happens, The Warriors of the Rainbow will come
to save them.

~Chief Seattle ~

Brother, you say there is but one way to worship and serve the
Great Spirit.

If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all
agreed, as you can all read the Book?

~Sogoyewapha, "Red Jacket" - Senaca~

"Lose
your temper and you lose a friend; lie and you lose yourself."

~Hopi ~

"We who are
clay blended by the Master Potter, come from the kiln of Creation in many

hues. How can people say one skin is colored,
when each has its own coloration? What

should it matter that one bowl is dark and the other pale, if each is of
good design and

serves its purpose well."

~Polingaysi Qoyawayma, Hopi ~

"There
is no such thing as 'part-Cherokee.' Either you're Cherokee or you're not.

It isn't the quantity of Cherokee
blood in your veins that is important, but the quality of it . . . your pride in it. I have seen full-bloods who
have virtually no idea of the great legacy entrusted to their care. Yet, I have seen people with as little as 1/500th blood
quantum who inspire the spirits of their ancestors because they make being Cherokee a proud part of a their everyday life."

~Jim Pell: Principal Chief of the North Alabama Cherokee Tribe

This quote is taken off the Memorial
Wall dedicated to the Women and Men who lost their lives to the Salem Witch hunt mania of the 17th century.

I know
it is not a Native American oriented quote, but in the air of potential "witch hunts" going on today, spurred on
by some christian fundamentalists trying to ban non-christian worshipping on military bases and elsewhere, I thought it was
appropriate. If they get their way, not only will Pagans and Wiccans suffer, but Native Americans following their own paths,
and Muslims, and Jews, etc., until no one is left...

My Face

My face is a mask I order to
say nothing

About the fragile feelings hiding in my soul.

-Glenn Lazore (Mohawk)

Words
of Wisdom

The American Indian is of the soil, whether it be the region of forests, plains, pueblos, or mesas. He
fits into the landscape, for the hand that fashioned the continent also fashioned the man for his surroundings. He once grew
as naturally as the wild sunflowers, he belongs just as the buffalo belonged....

Out of the Indian approach to life
there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles
of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.

You have noticed that everything
an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to
be round..... The Sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are all the stars. The wind,
in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nest in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours....

Even
the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle
from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.

-Black Elk (Oglala) 1863-1950

The Great Spirit is in all things, he is in the air we breathe. The Great Spirit is our Father, but the
Earth is our Mother. She nourishes us, that which we put into the ground she returns to us....

-Big
Thunder(Bedagi)(Wabanaki Algonquin)

From Wakan-Tanka, the Great Mystery, comes all power. It is from Wakan-Tanka
that the holy man has wisdom and the power to heal and make holy charms. Man knows that all healing plants are given by Wakan-Tanka,
therefore they are holy. So too is the buffalo holy, because it is the gift of Wakan-Tanka.

-Flat-Iron
(Maza Blaska) Oglala Sioux Chief

In the beginning of all things, wisdom and knowledge were with the animals,
for Tirawa, the One Above, did not speak directly to man. He sent certain animals to tell men that he showed himself through
the beast, and that from them, and from the stars and the sun and moon should man learn.. all things tell of Tirawa.

All things in the world are two. In our minds we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we see two things, things that
are fair and things that are ugly.... We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and we have the left hand full
of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good. So are all things
two, all two.

-Eagle Chief (Letakos-Lesa) Pawnee

...... everything on the earth has
a purpose, every disease an herb to cure it, and every person a mission. This is the Indian theory of existence.

-Mourning Dove (Salish) 1888-1936

"We know our lands have now become more valuable. The white
people think we do not know their value; but we know that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for it are
soon worn out and gone."

-Canassatego

... I have seen that in any great undertaking
it is not enough for a man to depend simply upon himself.

-Lone Man (Isna-la-wica)(Teton Sioux)

"Where today are the Pequot? Where are the Narragansett, the Mohican, the Pokanoket, and many other once
powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the White Man, as snow before a
summer sun.

"Will we let ourselves be destroyed in our turn without a struggle, give up our homes, our country
bequeathed to us by the Great Spirit, the graves of our dead and everything that is dear and sacred to us? I know you will
cry with me, 'Never! Never!'"

-Tecumseh (Shawnee)

"The white people, who
are trying to make us over into their image, they want us to be what they call "assimilated," bringing the Indians
into the mainstream and destroying our own way of life and our own cultural patterns. They believe we should be contented
like those whose concept of happiness is materialistic and greedy, which is very different from our way.

We want
freedom from the white man rather than to be integrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be free to
raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to hunt and fish and live in peace. We don't want power, we don't
want to be congressmen, or bankers....we want to be ourselves. We want to have our heritage, because we are the owners of
this land and because we belong here.

The white man says, there is freedom and justice for all. We have had "freedom
and justice," and that is why we have been almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."

-From
the 1927 Grand Council of American Indians

"The ground on which we stand is sacred ground. It is the
blood of our ancestors."

Chief Plenty Coups (Crow)

"How smooth must be
the language of the whites, when they can make right look like wrong, and wrong like right."

-Black
Hawk (Sauk)

"There are many things to be shared with the Four Colors of humanity in our common destiny
as one with our Mother the Earth. It is this sharing that must be considered with great care by the Elders and the medicine
people who carry the Sacred Trusts, so that no harm may come to people through ignorance and misuse of these powerful forces."

-Resolution of the Fifth Annual Meetings of the Traditional Elders Circle, 1980

"My
father, you have made promises to me and to my children. If the promises had been made by a person of no standing, I should
not be surprised to see his promises fail. But you, who are so great in riches and power; I am astonished that I do not see
your promises fulfilled!

"I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that you
should have made them and not performed them. . ."

-Shinguaconse ("Little Pine")

"When we Indians kill meat, we eat it all up. When we dig roots, we make little holes. When we build houses,
we make little holes. When we burn grass for grasshoppers, we don't ruin things. We shake down acorns and pine nuts. We don't
chop down the trees. We only use dead wood. But the white people plow up the ground, pull down the trees, kill everything.
... the White people pay no attention. ...How can the spirit of the earth like the White man? ... everywhere the White man
has touched it, it is sore."

-Wintu Woman, 19th Century

"Traditional people
of Indian nations have interpreted the two roads that face the light-skinned race as the road to technology and the road to
spirituality. We feel that the road to technology.... has led modern society to a damaged and seared earth. Could it be that
the road to technology represents a rush to destruction, and that the road to spirituality represents the slower path that
the traditional native people have traveled and are now seeking again? The earth is not scorched on this trail. The grass
is still growing there."

-William Commanda, Mamiwinini, Canada, 1991

The Sacred
Tree

Among the Indians there have been no written laws. Customs handed down from generation to generation have been
the only laws to guide them. Every one might act different from what was considered right did he choose to do so, but such
acts would bring upon him the censure of the Nation.... This fear of the Nation's censure acted as a mighty band, binding
all in one social, honorable compact.

-George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-bowh)(Ojibwa Chief 1818-1863)

The
promise Creator gives us

Comes with every new day,

The gift of breath, the gift of life,

Opportunities
in a vast array.

How do we count our blessings,

Through the choices life can bring?

Is it through
joyful lessons?

Or the fears to which we cling?

Are we learning to show gratitude,

For the victories
over human pain?

By honoring the feeling choices,

We grasp the will we've regained.

Can we change
our focus,

With no need to defend?

Acknowledging joy and sorrow,

Without judging foe or friend?

Tomorrow promises the fullness

Of every human way to know:

How we master each challenge

Determines
our balance -

reflecting how we grow.

The Promise of Tomorrow

Jamie Sams

"Earth Medicine"

Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all, and round about beneath me was the whole hoop
of the world. And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred
manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.

And I say the sacred hoop of my people was one of the many hoops that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight,
and in the center grew one mighty flowering tree to shelter all the children of one mother and one father. And I saw that
it was holy...

But anywhere is the center of the world.

Black Elk

Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux

The traditions of our people are handed down from father to son. The Chief is considered to be the most
learned, and the leader of the tribe. The Doctor, however, is thought to have more inspiration. He is supposed to be in communion
with spirits... He cures the sick by the laying of hands, and payers and incantations and heavenly songs. He infuses new life
into the patient, and performs most wonderful feats of skill in his practice.... He clothes himself in the skins of young
innocent animals, such as the fawn, and decorated himself with the plumage of harmless birds, such as the dove and hummingbird
...

-Sarah Winnemucca (Paiute)1844-1891

"If today I had a young mind to direct,
to start on the journey of life, and I was faced with the duty of choosing between the natural way of my forefathers and that
of the... present way of civilization, I would, for its welfare, unhesitatingly set that child's feet in the path of my forefathers.
I would raise him to be an Indian!"

"We learned to be patient observers like the owl. We learned
cleverness from the crow, and courage from the jay, who will attack an owl ten times its size to drive it off its territory.
But above all of them ranked the chickadee because of its indomitable spirit."

-Tom Brown, Jr.,
The Tracker

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you
dare to dream of meeting in your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you
will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me
what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened
by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit
in pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy,
mine or your own,if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tip of your fingers and toes without cautioning
us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story
you're telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation
of betrayal and not betray your own soul.

I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from God's
presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and
shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much
money you have.

I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the
bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.

It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here.

I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest
me where or what or with whom you have studied.

I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls
away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty
moments.

The Invitation

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

(A Native American Elder)

Stone People medicine:

Carnelian- is a translucent to clear waxy form of quartz, it is flesh colored, or
red, orange, or reddish-brown. It is the stone of integrity & a symbol of the strength & beauty of the earth. Carnelian
is attributed with the ability to stimulate & to stir into action. It softens anger & disperses strife. It promotes
contentment, thus it is a good stone to wear. Carnelian helps a person to develop self-control. It is a stone of blood ties
& family unity since it's primary attribute is to strengthen. Ancient people accredited carnelian with currative powers
& it was used in general healing.

Resource: Earth Medicine by Kenneth Meadows

The
Stone People (Rocks) are the Eldest living beings on Mother Earth, therefore are deserving of the utmost respect. I have been
taught that they serve the role of record-keepers. It was also explained to me that Great Mystery breathed it's breath into
each & every stone thus granting them all unique & valuable gifts & lessons to bestow upon earth's other creatures.

When you were born you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life

in such a manner that
when you die, the world cried and you rejoice.

We cannot all sit on the same side of the Fire. A Council Fire forms a circle, not a line or a square. When we move to the
side we still sit at the Fire with our Brothers and Sisters, but as we move away from one we move toward another. The circle,
like the Dream Hoop, brings us ever back to where we start. Any time words of respect and love are spoken they will return
as given. A harsh word runs forever in the circle, eventually vanishing from the wear against itself. Love settles within
the Circle, embracing it and thereby lasting forever, turning within itself. The Medicine Wheel is the circle of life [sometimes
called the Scared Hoop] starting with birth and continuing throughout our lives until death, when we have gone full circle.
The Medicine wheel has four Directions, each direction offering it's own lessons, color, and animal guide. There are two paths
shown which cross in the center, at which point for me is the heart. For when you work from your heart, you can reach all
directions. The path from East to West is the path of spirits, [the Blue Road] the path from South to North is our physical
Walk [the Red Road]. East - beginnings, purity, family, innocence, amazement of Life

North - Place of the Ancient Ones who have gone over - place of wisdom above - freedom of mind, body, spirit below -
nurturing, mother, life

Luther Standing Bear, Oglala

Beauty and ugliness
are everywhere, even in some of the same things. To some a wide open prairie is empty and colorless, but to others it is uncluttered
simplicity, the way life itself ought to look. Physical appeal is high on some lists, but nu tso se dv na, which is Cherokee
comfort, lasts longer. Whatever is in our hearts is in our sight. To love something or someone makes us see the beauty of
it, not the wrong. It is to our advantage to be gentle in our observations, to see and cultivate the best in who we are and
in those around us. We love quiet; we suffer the mouse to play; when the woods are rustled by the wind, we fear not....

All things in the world are two. In our mind we are two, good and evil. With our eyes we
see two things, things that are fair and things that are ugly. We have the right hand that strikes and makes for evil, and
the left hand full of kindness, near the heart. One foot may lead us to an evil way, the other foot may lead us to a good.
So are all things two, all two.

Eagle Chief [ Letakots-Lesa ] Pawnee

"There
is a road in the hearts of all of us, hidden and seldom traveled, which leads to an unknown, secret place. The old people
came literally to love the soil, and they sat or reclined on the ground with a feeling of being close to a mothering power.
Their teepees were built upon the earth and their alters were made of earth. The soul was soothing, strengthening, cleansing
and healing. That is why the old Indian still sits upon the earth instead of propping himself up and away from its life giving
forces. For him, to sit or lie upon the ground is to be able to think more deeply and to feel more keenly. He can see more
clearly into the mysteries of life and come closer in kinship to other lives about him."

Chief Luther Standing
Bear

DISCLAIMER

All gifs were taken from free public domain.If for any reason these belong to someone,please notify me,and
I'll either remove it or give credit upon verification